On Friday, Drug Policy Alliance’s Tony Newman, writing for AlterNet, posted some tips about eating marijuana-infused products like pot brownies. The end of prohibition is heralding a new era of pot-infused products like soda, candy, and baked goods. Some are so expertly made, it’s hard to tell there is any cannabis in them, leading to adverse events like clueless relatives, kids or pets scarfing THC-infused cookies. Newman offers some basic, common sense tips. Here they are again, summarized:

1) Lock up your edibles. Just like other medicines, pot foods need to be kept out of reach of anyone who may accidentally find and eat them. Think: medicine cabinet, not pantry. “Edible marijuana can be a safe and enjoyable way for people to ingest marijuana, but with that comes responsibility to make sure no one, especially kids, stumble upon them.”

2) Accidentally eating pot is not harmful. No one has ever died from ingesting pot. Ever. So don’t freak out. The media loves to call accidental weed ingestion “poisoning” and write that people were “sickened” — as if feeling loopy and sleepy is equivalent to dying from drinking anti-freeze, or god forbid a bottle of Jack Daniels.

3) Go slow. The onset of edible marijuana’s effects can take up to 90 minutes, so don’t get impatient and eat more. You could end up too high and feeling uncomfortable. If so, see rule 2.

David Downs is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Wired, Rolling Stone, the Onion, and the New York Times. He writes the syndicated weekly column "Legalization Nation" and edits pot blog Smell the Truth on SFGate.com.